You gotta give it all
by Cerasi-chan
Summary: Neji decides to give Hinata a gift. But this proves harder than he thought it'd be!
1. An Idea

'Hinataaaa!' Hyuuga Hiashi's voice and footsteps came closer and closer, until they stopped right outside Hinata's door. 

His voice was unnaturally loud.  
His footsteps were unusually heavy.  
In short, he was...

...very angry.

Hinata jumped back as the door flew open.

'Y-yes Father?' she inquired, trying not to show how unsettled she was.

'Where is my copy of Konoha Jutsus: Revisited?' her father demanded.

Hinata put her head down and twiddled her fingers, gestures she always resorted to when nervous.

'I...I...uh...'

'Look at me when I'm speaking to you,' he commanded.

She slowly raised her head. 'I...I...borrowed it, father. To...to try and learn some new skills.'

Hiashi gave his daughter a look of contempt. 'You're not very good at lying. I saw your eyes shift.'

Hinata clenched her fists in frustration. How could she tell her father that she'd borrowed the big, heavy book to press flowers with? He would surely get angrier. She'd never thought that he'd miss it from his study. It was almost identical to all the other decaying books on the shelves.

'How unlucky can I get?' she thought, unhappily.

'Well? Do I have to use the Byakugan to find it?' He had one eyebrow raised. That was never a good sign.

'Uncle.' A voice came from the doorway. Hinata looked up, only to see her cousin Neji, standing there. She bit her lip and instinctively put a hand to her chest, where the injuries he'd dealt her during the Chuunin exam still remained.

His next sentence startled her.

'It was I who borrowed it. I am to train with Nara Shikamaru next week, and I only wanted to read about his family's special jutsu.'

Hiashi's annoyance disappeared in an instant. 'Of course, Neji-kun. Now _that_, I can believe.' He glared at Hinata, who started examining the tatami mat very closely.

'I'll be done with it by tomorrow, Uncle. Is that okay?'

Hiashi nodded. 'Keep it up, Neji. Do the Hyuuga clan proud. Not like this useless daughter of mine.'

When her father was gone, Hinata let out the breath she had been holding.

'Neji-niisan...arigatou...how did you know I'd taken the book?'

He turned to face her. 'I saw you in your room yesterday. You had a bunch of plum blossoms, some sheets of paper and you looked very busy.'

Hinata reddened. Had he been using the byakugan to spy on her in her room? And why would he stick up for her like that? It was all very unlike him.

'Oh...I...thank you anyway Neji-niisan.' She reached under her bed and pulled the book out, half-regretfully. She didn't have anything else to press the plum blossoms with. Hanabi had stolen the bricks she used to use, just to spite her, and she hadn't been able to find any more.

Neji took the book with both hands, looking rather contemplative as he did so. 'Arigatou, Hinata-sama. I will see that your father gets this.'

With that, he turned and walked out of the room, leaving a very flustered Hinata.

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Neji pulled at his long coffee-coloured hair thoughtfully. Yesterday, when he'd walked past his cousin's room, he'd thought nothing of using the Byakugan to look past her back and at the objects she held. She couldn't have felt it anyway, her skill with the bloodline was too weak. But now he kind of regretted it. She already distrusted him.

His cousin had been pressing flowers with that book, hadn't she? She would need something else to use. He knew what Hinata was like. She wouldn't have touched Hiashi's books or scrolls unless she really needed to. The thing was, where was he supposed to find something as heavy as that stupid book? And why did he even care, anyway?

Neji frowned to himself. He had had a soft spot for his cousin ever since they were young. He remembered bringing her flowers. He remembered her trying to kiss his forehead when he had been branded with the cursed seal. He remembered sharing mitarashi dango with her on a wooden bridge over a stream, while fireworks burst into neon stars above their heads.

He also remembered trying to kill her during the Chuunin exam.

He didn't hate her, in fact, it was quite the opposite. He told her to give up so he wouldn't have to hurt her. But she refused, and somehow, some time during the fight, she had changed from the cute cousin he knew into a generic Main House Family Member. Eyes like his staring back at him, surrounding veins enlarged. And he had wanted to stifle all the things she meant to him.

'She won't ever love--I mean, trust me again,' he thought. 'Not after I did that to her. Where the hell did the word 'love' come from?'

A naggy little voice in his head said 'Shut up, Neji. You have to make up for it somehow!'

'How?' he asked.

The voice snapped back impatiently. 'A brick, you idiot! She likes pressing flowers! Tell her you're sorry with a brick!'

'...why, of course.' He wondered why he hadn't thought of it before. The people who thought he was a genius would be disappointed.

With the thought of obtaining a brick for his beloved cousin, Neji headed out of the Hyuuga compound with a determined look in his eyes.


	2. A Summoning

It was a lovely day today, Tenten mused, as she stirred her rapidly melting ice cream sundae. No missions, no training (Lee and Gai-sensei had gone off on one of their one-on-one psychotic training sessions), no anything. She wondered where Neji was, eyeing the blank seat beside her with discontent. He was probably training by himself somewhere.

'What a stick-in-the-mud,' she thought. 'Won't even cancel a training session for once. He should go out more. With me.'

As if by magic, Hyuuga Neji appeared in her line of vision. Wait, Neji? On the streets of Konoha between the hours of three to four pm? She must be dreaming.

'Hey NEJI!' she yelled, knocking her stool over in her rush to get out of the ice cream store. 'Wait!'

Neji turned around, very slowly. 'What do you want?' he inquired in his You're-already-boring-me voice.

Tenten turned a shade of crimson. Why did he always have to be so difficult? He could try being nicer for a change.

'I..was wondering if you'd like to have ice cream with me.'

Neji rolled his eyes. He knew Tenten had a crush on him...and he didn't care. 'No thanks.'

She grabbed his arm without warning. 'Come on Neji! Live a little!'

Instinctively, the veins around Neji's eyes bulged very slightly. 'I said no.'

Tenten quickly let go of his arm and started looking like an extremely sulky little girl. 'Please Neji-kun?'

He counted to twenty. 'I'm...busy.'

'Busy doing what? You were just walking around.'

'I was not just walking around. I was looking for something, until you so rudely interrupted me.'

Tenten glared. 'What could you be looking for that's so important?'

Neji hesitated. Maybe she could help him. 'A brick.'

'...a brick. You're kidding, right?' Tenten reckoned he must've stayed out in the sun too long.

'Yes, a brick. Can you help me get one or not?'

Tenten reached into her pouch for her summoning scrolls. Now was the time! She would impress Neji by summoning a brick (hey, bricks are weapons right?), he would say something along the lines of 'Wow Tenten! You really are the most talented kunoichi I know!' and he would ask her out on a date and they would live happily ever after.

'I can help you summon one,' she offered, trying not to sound too eager.

'Sure.' He watched while she set the scrolls on the ground and performed a set of seals.

'...now!' Her hands rapidly slapped the characters written on the scrolls, producing...

'What the hell.' Neji, for once in his life, sounded surprised.

Lying on the checkered tiles of the ice cream store was a neat pile of sticks, some of them sporting green leaves.

Tenten turned redder than she'd ever turned before. 'I...I guess...well it was close! Stick sounds like brick, doesn't it?' She picked one of the sticks up and tentatively offered it to Neji, who didn't even bother looking at it.

'You're wasting my time,' he said, shortly. 'I'm going to look elsewhere.'

The little bell on the door tinkled cheerfully as the boy in the beige shirt left the store.

'Wait Neji! Waaaiit! I can do it! Really!' Tenten's frantic screams echoed after him.

And then...

'Shit,' said Tenten. And kicked her summoning scrolls away. 


	3. A Brick!

Uchiha Sasuke was leaning against one of the pillars of the gate to the Uchiha mansion. He, like Tenten, hadn't received any missions of late. Plus, Naruto the loudmouth was nowhere in sight and neither was Sakura the slobbering fangirl...which could only mean one thing: it was time for some alone time. 

For Sasuke, the words 'alone time' usually meant fantasizing about killing his older brother, Itachi in a variety of ways, each more violent than the last. So far the methods included 'run Father's samurai sword through his spleen while dousing his head in a bucket of flaming Napalm' and 'cut off all his limbs one by one while he's still conscious'. Lately he'd considered adding 'Tie him to a spiked pole and unleash a horde of rabid fangirls upon him.'

But today, he decided, he would do something very simple. Sasuke mentally played a dramatic drumroll in his head. '...I will bash his head in with a brick!'

Ooh, the delightfulness of it all! He already had a certain brick in mind. Walking into his parents' bedroom, he bent down and picked up the brick that was keeping the door open. He would use this brick and this brick alone! It had been there, innocently keeping the door open when Itachi had walked in and slaughtered their parents. Oh, revenge would be so sweet. 'Do you remember this brick?' Sasuke would say before he proceeded to do painful things to his brother's cranium. 'It watched while you murdered mother and father!' Here Sasuke cradled the brick in his arms as if it were a kitten he had found drowning in a pond.

Suddenly, Sasuke's stomach gave out a rumble worthy of a small earthquake. Damn! He'd been so busy thinking that he'd forgotten it was past lunch time. With the brick tucked under one arm, he strolled into the kitchen and opened the fridge. It was...disappointingly empty. Sasuke sure as hell wasn't going to eat any of the food (mostly boxes of candy) his fangirls left him, so he grabbed his wallet and headed for Ichiraku Ramen, praying that Naruto wouldn't be there.

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Fortunately (actually, UNfortunately) for him, Kami-sama heard his prayer and arranged for Neji to be sitting at Ichiraku Ramen instead of Naruto, planning his quest.

Neji's eyes brightened the moment he saw Sasuke walk up to the bar, brick still tucked under one arm.

'Uchiha,' he said, trying to contain his excitement. 'Give me that brick.'

Sasuke gave him a glare Gaara would have approved of. 'Why should I?'

'Why shouldn't you?' Neji countered. He wished that it had been anyone else but Sasuke carrying a brick. This would be hard.

Sasuke stuck his nose a little higher into the air. 'I don't need to answer your questions,_ Hyuuga_.' The way Sasuke said the word 'Hyuuga', it might as well have meant 'bit of slime that's been accumulating in my bathroom because I haven't bothered to clean it'.

The corners of Neji's lips thinned. 'Give me that brick if you don't want to be jyuuken-ed into the next world.'

'Make me.' Sasuke's grip on his precious brick tightened, but his Sharingan remained inactivated.

'Hey you shinobi!' The owner of Ichiraku Ramen, Teuchi looked slightly annoyed. 'If you want to fight, take it to the training fields!'

Neji paused and smirked at the old man. 'Don't worry, we will.' In one lightning-quick movement, he forced needles of chakra into Sasuke's knuckles, causing the brick to fall. His other hand caught it, and he started running.

'...YOU HYUUGA DOG!' Sasuke realised what had happened too late. But he wasn't about to give up! No, he was an _avenger_! He would _avenge_ with that brick! The Hyuuga would regret it oh-so-much.

Sasuke took off after him, mentally putting Neji's name below Itachi's on his list of people to kill.

'...these kids.' Teuchi sighed. 'I'm pretty sure the Uchiha was hungry too.'


	4. A Diplomat

Note: Hey everyone, sorry I haven't updated for so long...hehe ;; Been busy with school and Bleach (I'll probably be writing Bleach fanfics next!)...anyway I promise to wrap this up really soon! )

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After a few hard hours of training in the fields, Inuzuka Kiba was in the mood for some fun and games. Fishing in his pocket, he brought up a bright red rubber ball which he tantalizingly displayed to the small white dog at his heels. At the sight of the ball, the dog let out a bark of excitement, his tail wagging violently from side to side.

Kiba grinned. He sometimes displayed the same excitable, inexplicable-in-a-human tendencies himself.

'Go, Akamaru!!' he shouted, throwing the ball as hard as he could, the dog hurtling like a furry bullet after it.

The ball flew in a graceful arc, Akamaru following close behind it, when suddenly--

BOINK! and

'OW DAMNIT!' yelled Neji, rubbing the sore spot on his head where the hard rubber ball had hit him. 'Watch where you're throwing your stupid BALL, Inuzuka!! Can't you see I'm trying to escape from that idiot Uchiha??'

'Gomen nasai! Open your eyes next time!' Kiba yelled back, any hint of apology that should've been in his voice absent. 'Escape? Why?' His interest was piqued. Just behind Neji, Akamaru happily ravaged the ball in his jaws.

'No time to explain.' said Neji shortly,annoyed at the 'open your eyes' comment. He dusted his clothes of imaginary bits of lint and picked the brick up once more.

'Oy Neji, why are you carrying a brick? Did you hit your head really hard?' Kiba asked, furrowing his brow slightly. 'I mean, before I threw the ball,' he added hurriedly, after receiving a death-glare.

Neji rolled his eyes before grudgingly saying 'It's for Hinata.'

Kiba scratched his head in puzzlement. 'But why--'

He was about to say 'but why would you be doing something for Hinata?' when just as suddenly as Neji had appeared, a certain raven-haired avenger burst onto the scene.

'I have you now, Hyuuga!!' Sasuke said, triumphantly. 'Give that brick back or suffer the consequences!'

'Shut up!' Neji bellowed, uncharacteristically. 'If you want the brick back, fight for it like a real shinobi!'

Kiba was even more puzzled now. He could just see the headlines in The Konoha Times: 'KONOHA'S OLDEST NOBLE FAMILIES ENGAGE IN BLOODTHIRSTY FEUD...OVER A BRICK!!'. He chuckled to himself. Well, he'd always considered himself something of a diplomat, perhaps he could help somehow...

His eyes fell on the brick, looking perfectly harmless and nestled in a clump of daisies where Neji had dropped it when he went into jyuuken stance. And then, a thought struck him.

As the Hyuuga and the Uchiha prepared to beat the crap out of each other ('over a brick!', said the delighted little voice in his mind), he tiptoed silently over and scooped it up, zipping it into his jacket like he normally did with Akamaru. He'd give it to Hinata himself! And she would smile her cute smile and go really red! ('exactly!' said the same little voice.) In a flash, he zipped out of the training field, planning to take the shortcut through the woods to the Hyuuga compound.

One failed chidori and several missed jyuuken moves later...

'Where...where the hell did the brick go,' Sasuke said, his gaze on the squashed clump of daisies, his breath ragged.

'You're asking me?' Neji said incredulously. And then...

'INUZUKA!!' they both yelled simultaneously.

The chase was on once more.


	5. An Ending

They were a sight to see: first a boy wearing ferocious-looking red face paint with a brick zipped up in his jacket, then a boy with veins bulging madly around his white eyes, and close behind, a boy with spiked black hair, red eyes betraying the sharingan. 

'GET THE HELL BACK HERE!!' Sasuke shouted.

'YES, GET THE HELL BACK HERE!!' Neji agreed. Then he thought 'Wait a minute...did I just agree with him? Wow.'

'YAHOO!' said Kiba, tearing along madly through the trees, evidently not listening to either of them.

Suddenly, he stopped. Not far in front of him was a derelict house, garden overgrown with weeds. Part of the roof had caved in, and the walls were crumbling. And that meant...bricks galore!

'HEY YOU GUYS! Look at this--' Kiba's sentence was cut short when Sasuke football-tackled him to the ground. Neji's byakugan, on the other hand, had already spotted the site and he was busy scanning the ground for an intact, perfect brick.

'It's mine, my own! My PRECIOUSSSS!' hissed Sasuke, sounding very unlike himself and more like one of his favourite characters from Lord of The Rings (hehe).

'Okay, okay, chill! It's just a brick!' said Kiba, ever diplomatic, holding both palms out in a gesture of peace. 'Look, there's loads over there!' He ran over to a sunken wall and pulled a brick out.

'This isn't just any brick!' Sasuke snapped. He launched into a long tirade against his brother and how the brick was going to be instrumental in Itachi's undoing.

'...and that is how I will kill Itachi and restore my family's honour!' he concluded triumphantly.

In the lush forest around him, crickets chirped. Obviously no one had been listening.

'...' Sasuke shrugged, picked up his brick and decided to go home and raid the larder for some instant ramen.

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Kiba somersaulted over the Hyuuga compound's walls and into the back garden. 'Hinata!' he yelled joyfully. 'See what I've brought you!'

'K-Kiba-kun!' Hinata looked up from the flowers she was planting, startled.

'It's a brick!' he said, proudly handing it to her. 'Though I don't know what you'd do with it.'

Hinata blushed. 'That's very thoughtful of you, Kiba-kun! This will be perfect for pressing flowers!' She hugged him around his middle, not noticing the happy gleam in his eyes when she did so.

Kiba whooped. Anything Neji did now would be an anticlimax! He turned and thumbed his nose at the silently fuming Neji, then dodged the Hyuuga guards and exited the compound with a flourish.

Neji, brick in his hands, stood perfectly still, gazing into the lavender-white eyes of his cousin. Both seemed not to know what to do. After an uncomfortably long silence, Neji pushed the brick into her hands with a blunt 'Here. It's for you. You won't have to take your father's books anymore.'

His cousin blushed crimson. 'A-arigatou, Neji-niisan.'

'She didn't tell me I was thoughtful when I was the one who thought of it first!' he thought, annoyed, turning and walking away. Life was unfair.

'Neji-niisan! Wait! You forgot something!' Hinata had run after him, blue yukata sleeves flapping in the wind. She stopped just in front of him, breathing heavily. Then she tiptoed up and kissed his cheek. 'Thank you.'

It was Neji's turn to blush.And score! He had got a kiss, not a hug!

Life was fair after all.

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A/N: Whew, that's finally finished! Thanks to everyone who waited so patiently for the ending/gave me reviews/even bothered to read this story!


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